Reading Comprehension for IBPS PO Main

Reading Comprehension for IBPS PO Main

Direction (Q. 1-10): Read the following passage carefully and answer the given questions. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

We should never confuse education with training or the ‘tools’ that educators use. Education is no more a computer or an online class than it is chalkboard – those are simply tools. Additionally, precious few new and relevant findings have been added to our insights into the learning process. Much of what many proclaim to be insightful turns out to be faddish and misguided. What we need for learning to occur is well-prepared and motivated teachers, students who are willing and able to learn and a social system that values education attainment. Many might take exception to these assertions, raining a host of ancillary social, economic, nutritional and sociological issues. However, decades of data from failed public experiments aimed at mitigating these problems argue to the contrary.

What are we to do? Create a wave of educational entrepreneurship? Despite all of the hype and media attention, no one currently knows the best way forward. We must incentivise educationalists, technologists and classroom teachers to experiment and innovate. Such partnerships should freely explore alternatives as we seek to define the blended face-to-face and online classrooms of the future. Some approaches will fail, but that is part of the change process. There will be no one-size-fits-all experience; success will vary by discipline and educational objectives. Unless everyone involved in this process is inspired to take risks, we will not enjoy the full potential these new approaches represent. Also, we should not forget the extent to which those who most benefit from the current system will attempt to hijack this change process for their own purposes.

With these issues in mind, consider the following vision of the change process to the classroom of tomorrow – a vision that leverages technology to create a more personalised learning experience. With the onset of this vision, the professor-student relationship will change. What is not likely to survive is the large class in which everyone progresses at the same pace. That paradigm will be replaced by a more customised and collaborative learning process. The reality of a technology-enabled personalised learning environment is still evolving. What seems clear is that at its heart is a more collaborate and student-mapped and paced process. The function of the professor, aided by educationalist, will also change. Student-professor collaboration will then determine both what content can be assigned to practice methods and how the student demonstrates mastery of that content. In such cases, timing issues will most likely be left entirely in the student’s hands while technology specialists recommend the best hardware and software solutions. Critical thinking or application ideas will involve more specialised, face-to-face and interactive online approaches geared to the real-time needs and progress the student is making. Thus the professor, with the student’s help, will vigilantly mix and blend the learning ingredients to produce a new learning environment. How this process plays out in reality will be the result of educational entrepreneurship, but it will surely entail both successes and some failures. The administration and accreditation of education will also have to change. As more education occurs outside the brick-and-mortar framework and is more centred on the student-professor interaction, the role of all non-teaching staff will need to be reassessed. As students and faculty increase their use of technology to personalise their formal and informal learning, educational technologist must be on hand to facilitate the effective use of that technology. Also the current hierarchical and standardised outcome formulas for administration and accreditation of colleges and universities are no longer tenable. Realistically, they are an impediment to the change needed.

Finally, we must address one of the most serious challenges facing online education – cheating. Simply put, cheating is rampant and we are turning a blind eye to the problem. Cheating threatens the integrity of the educational process and the value-added of the degree. Solutions must be found and implemented – or all changes will be for naught. 

1. Which of the following is most nearly the SAME in meaning as the word given in bold as used in the passage? Entail
1) limit
2) occasion
3) involve
4) subject
5) end

2. Which of the following can be the most suitable title for the passage? 1) Educating Through Technology – What the Future can Be
2) Teachers – An Obsolete Future
3) The Hype Around Technology-Aided Education
4) Limitations of Technology
5) Evolution of Technology – The Way Forward for Tech Giants

3. Which of the following is/are true according to the author? (A) The way the colleges are granted certification will have to change to accommodate the changes in imparting education through technology.
(B) With the onset of technology-enabled education, the school/college premises or building will lose its importance slightly.
(C) With the onset of the desired level of technology-enabled education, learning will become a joint effort of students as well as teachers.
1) Only (A)

2) All the three (A), (B) and (C)
3) Only (B) and (C)
4) Only (C)
5) Only (A) and (B)

4. Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning of the word given in bold as used in the passage. Mitigating
1) aggravating 

2) irritating 

3) annoying
4) frustrating 

5) infuriating

5. Which of the following is most nearly the same in meaning as the word given in bold as used in the passage? Personalise
1) customise 

2) cause 

3) sensitise
4) own 

5) preside

6. According to the author, which of the following changes will occur with the onset of the desired level of technology-aided education? (A) The pace of learning for each student will be different.
(B) The decision of how much time a student needs to learn will be left to the student’s disposal.
(C) The role of the teacher will change and become one of being the provider of tailored learning content to the student.
1) Only (C)
2) Only (B) and (C)
3) Only (A)
4) All the three (A), (B) and (C)
5) Only (A) and (C) 

7. Which of the following is most OPPOSITE in meaning of the word given in bold as used in the passage? Impediment
1) freedom 

2 ) advantage 

3) extravagance
4) luxury 

5) autonomy 

8. What does the author mean when he uses the word ‘will be for naught’? 1) will be in trouble
2) will face complications
3) will not be allowed
4) will come together
5) will amount to nothing 

9. According to the author, which of the following is Not True about cheating? 1) It is one of the gravest problems faced in education.
2) It undermines the value of the credential obtained through education.
3) Not much is being done to curtail it at present.
4) It is quite prevalent at present.
5) All the given options are true 

10. According to the author, which of the following should be done to effectively integrate technology into education? (A) Risk taking should be kept to a bare minimum to mitigate adverse effects.
(B) Innovation amongst stakeholders of education and technology should be encouraged.
(C) We should be alert about people who may not allow certain changes for their own benefits.
1) Only (A) and (C) 

2) Only (C)
3) Only (B) and (C) 

4) Only (A)
5) All the three (A), (B) and (C)

Answers:

1. 3
2. 1
3. 2
4. 1
5. 1
6. 4
7. 2
8. 5
9. 5
10. 3